


loVer

by ElectricTwist



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Canon Continuation, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Reddie, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 00:09:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12047205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricTwist/pseuds/ElectricTwist
Summary: It's kinda hard going back to being kids when you have to live with the fact that a killer clown haunts your town.





	loVer

"Yo, Eds!"

The crunch of dead branches and leaves stopped as the boy paused, turning back to face the source of the shout from The Barrens.

Richie grinned crookedly for a second before catching up with him.  
"Wot, didja think I was gonna let you walk home alone in such a crippled state my boy?"

He gestured ostentatiously to Eddie's cast.

"Oh silly me dear Richard!"  
The shorter boy pulled his free arm to his chest attempting to mimic the other's strange impression.

Richie paused slightly and snorted,  
"Man your British voice sucks, you should really work on that."

Eddie adjusted his collar and punched his shoulder as well as he could manage,  
"That was supposed to be British!?"

The two broke out into a fit of giggles as they passed along the overgrown dirt paths.

Richie gazed over at Eddie. The sunlight was passing through the leaves above them and left weird patterns on his fuzzy, brown hair.  
It was actually kinda pretty-

"Hey um, I actually wanted to mention the whole cast thing." He coughed, turning away.

Eddie looked up suddenly with wide eyes at the reminder, and glanced at his arm. The clown, that thing, It- Twisted, pulled...dislocated from his elbow...the pain of it all came sinking down into his gut.

Richie obviously noticed his shudder and coughed out,  
"No no dude I mean like the cast itself, it...it really suits you."

Eddie blinked a couple of times then groaned, "Oh ha ha, 'loser', I get it."

Richie frowned.

"...What?" The loser narrowed his eyes at Richie.

"No I mean the 'V', doofus."

Eddie pulled his useless limb up and stared at the large red V he had sharpied over the insult hours ago.

Light red began to dust his cheeks and beneath that suddenly itchy collar that won't sit right. He began to resemble the letter.

"Oh...uh,"

Richie snorted again and pushed up his thick-framed glasses,  
"Eds, you're so cute!"

Eddie shoved Richie with his free hand and sighed into a laugh.

Without noticing it they had almost reached Eddie's house.

The boy stared forwards, knuckles white, teeth gritted.

Richie kicked at the cracks in the sidewalk,  
"Gee Edd-o if you don't go in and greet Mrs. K right now I'll beat you to it!"

Edd-o winced.

"Hey...dude you can come over tonight it's cool."

Dark brown eyes closed and their owner swallowed roughly,  
"She says I'm a bad son."

Richie jumped slightly at the change of tone. He didn't know how to react when Eddie just stood there, rubbing at his cast absentmindedly.

"She's wrong. Also that's way fucked up."

Eddie shrugged, but didn't look at him.

The glasses-clad trashmouth tugged at his frames and exhaled from his nose,  
"I'm serious man."

He pushed at Eddie's collar bone and was met with a shaky throat clearing.

"Did I...Did I tell you about what It made me see?"

"Yeah the homeless guy, right? No nose?"

Eddie's shoulders narrowed forwards as though he were trying to appear smaller. Like he was trying to hide from whatever words were tumbling from his mouth.

"I...uh, he had offered um, ah," his eyebrows furrowed and his knuckles clenched tighter.

Normally Richie would have negged him on. Hearing people ramble was always kinda funny, but something about Eddie's cloudy demeanor shut that thought down immediately.

"Mom says...that h-homosexuality is-"  
He started wheezing and collapsed to the ground.

"Eddie! What the fuck-?" Richie fished through his untidy backpack as his friend clutched his own chest.

"Y-You kept the..." The hyperventilating boy pushed down on the inhaler and breathed in.

Richie sat down, pawing at the dirt next to him. He looked up, squinting at the sun as it started fall. Like Eddie did.  
The more he thought about it, the more Eddie felt like the sun to him. Sure he loved his other friends, forever, but not like...-

Eddie was brave. Even if he was a total pussy at times, Richie couldn't shake the feeling that this kid can do anything.  
He was Eddie for fuck's sake.

A hand brushing his black bangs from his eyes shook him from his thoughts.

"Sorry, you were staring, and...,"  
The sun trailed off and fumbled with his inhaler,  
"...Why did you keep this?"

Richie woke up from his daze and stepped up on stage,  
"Because, you fool, you'd fucking die without it!"  
He gripped his heart and shouted victoriously.

Eddie used his cast as leverage to push himself to his roughed up knees and fiddled with Richie's shoelaces,  
"Yeah but that medicine...it's bullshit,"

Richie flicked the back of his friend's head, "You wanted to be a badass, but even badasses have asthma attacks."

The asthmatic badass gazed up and stuck his tongue out, his skin dusted once more with light red.

Richie still didn't really know what was going on in Eddie's head before he started coughing up his lungs. That was fine, though. They all still have some shit to sort through.

They hadn't even realized it, but they ended up at Richie's house. They blamed it on it getting dark out, and not their existential relapse. The boys stood for a minute underneath the large tree in his yard in silence.

He hadn't even realized it, but Eddie and his dark brown eyes were staring straight at him. The eyes started to water. Or maybe his did first.

Arms reached up to wrap around his neck. Dark brown hair tickled his cheek, and a nose dug into his collar bone.

Richie almost started to laugh. Or cry. Or scream. Everything they had been through in the last few months caught up with him and for the first time he let himself remember it. He wanted to live. He wanted this shit to be over with. But he knew that he couldn't keep acting like none of it affected him. Being the group's comedy relief was difficult when you're trying to repress everything.

The two of them huddled into each other. Eddie's normally shaky breathing took to Richie's soothing heartbeat. His palm grazed Richie's black hair and pushed the bangs away. Their sweaty foreheads met for a while.

"Hey lover, are you on your tippy toes? You're smudging up my glasses."

"Beep beep, Richie."

**Author's Note:**

> LOL (that means lots of love uwu) for reading
> 
> What'd you think of the new movie? Other than weird pacing at times and minor changes I thought it was preeeeetty gooood!
> 
> I also wanted to include some of the stuff the movie switched around or left out??  
> ❤☔


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